MusicTech Participate In Music Industry East to West Bike Ride

MIEW (Music Industry East to West) Rides is pleased to announce the successful completion of the third annual MIEW ride. Despite a bit of drama and a small amount of blood, everybody made it home safe. For the first time, fundraising broke the £10,000 barrier!

With generous support from a number of other stellar industry sponsors, including MusicTech publisher Simon Lewis. In autumn 2014 an intrepid group of music industry professionals took on a 225-mile ride across Brittany: a weekend of sun, gravel, impact and achievement to raise crucial funds for In Tune for Life, a UK charity helping change lives through music.

In Tune for Life is currently working in a nine-month partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation in Lilongwe, Malawi, using the talent of local artists to support crucial work counselling newly-diagnosed HIV patients. Malawi is home to 910,000 people living with HIV, and although medicine is free there, because of low staff numbers and the large number of patients, nurses lack the time to provide critical information and counselling to patients. ITFL is helping fill the gap by developing music and video materials that medical staff can use to provide counselling before and after HIV testing.

Giles Orford, representative for MIEW rides, is already planning MIEW 2015 in Ireland, from Rosslare on the east coast to Bantry Bay on the west:

“I, and a number of other riders look forward to the MIEW ride each year, which has now become somewhat of an annual event. It’s great to be doing something we love, for a cause we believe in, working with a charity we know can make a difference and ever increasing sponsorship, long may it continue.”

Giles has even bigger plans for next year. “In 2015 we’ll build on the concept of MIEW Spirit Rides. We’ve got colleagues in the USA and elsewhere who can’t join us in Ireland, but they want to support ITFL. So they’ll ride with us in spirit, covering the most challenging distances they can manage over the same weekend and raising money alongside us. We’re going global!”

This year, with riders’ individual sponsorship efforts boosting the support of some of the industry’s coolest companies, over £10,000 was raised to help empower artists around the world to improve the health of poor communities through music and video.

Mark Nunn, COO of In Tune for Life, added a message of thanks:

“These are still hard times for charities, for everybody, but every year people amaze us with their support for the MIEW rides. It’s incredible the lengths they go to and the pain they’ll endure to support a good cause. Without the riders and the sponsors we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and we’re incredibly grateful. Bring on 2015!”

To find out more about MIEW Rides and join a growing community, visit the http://www.facebook.com/miewrides

Twitter: @MIEWrides

If you’re interested in taking part in 2015, be swift! Limited to 15 core riders, MIEW2015 will run from September 4 to September 7, 2015 and is expected to fill up quickly. Simply contact giles.orford@miew-rides.org

Interested in sponsoring this year’s riders? The site is still open for donations…

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/miew2014

Finally, you may be wondering, why east to west?

It’s a good question. MIEW Rides would have you believe that this concept was born out of a desire to draw parallels between different cultures and philosophies across the globe. The truth is, it’s one less thing to think about when you’re trying to work out where a ride should start and finish!